Stand My Ground
by Quadrantje
Summary: JC Earth's press comes across an unstoppable force, in the form of a small redheaded female. But what is it they are discussing?


Disclaimer: The characters of 'Star Trek: Voyager' do not belong to me, no infringement of copyright is intended.  
Title and name of this fic come from the song 'Stand My Ground' performed by the great dutch band 'Within Temptation'. The song has practically nothing to do with the story, but I found that playing it continiously while writing this really helped.  
Thanks to my great beta-reader Kimberly, who managed to get this thing at least somewhat spaceworthy, which was a whole endeavor on its own. Reviews are always welcome.  
This fic is entered in the Launching Pad contest, level 1.

**-()-()-**

Earth. Earth was like a large marble, orbiting the big yellow taw called Sol. Its great expanses of water made it a wet planet compared to most others. Many had called it the 'blue planet' and except for the wisps of cloud travelling through its atmosphere, the name seemed very fitting. The large continents and dozens of scattered islands added some green to the beautiful blend of colours.

America was one of those continents. The large cluster of islands in the north led to Greenland and from there the vast landmass of Northern America flowed into South America through a small bridge of land once called Mexico. There too was a huddle of islands, formed by volcanic eruptions long ago that originated along the divide between the American and the Caribbean Plate.

On that continent, at the utter west part and just beside the ocean, was the city of San Francisco. This once small town had grown into a large metropolis, lining the horizon with its skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. One could feel completely dwarfed here, in this enclosure of buildings, not to mention amazed with all the different races that walked through its streets. People from all over the Federation and far beyond visited this great capitol. Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Orions, Betazoid, Bajorans, Ferengi, and Vulcans could all be seen in the city's buildings and roaming its streets and green parks. Species with brightly coloured skin, such as the blue-skinned Bolians and Andorians were even more noticeable as they mingled with the others. But still most common among them all was Earth's native race, Humans.

The whole city was as usual milling with people. The star ports were busy and transport stations almost completely jammed, but no place was as crowded as the impressive Starfleet Headquarters. This prestigious building, used as a focus point for the Admiralty and the base of operations for all of Starfleet, was always overflowing with people, but never as much so as today. Today, press from all over the Quadrant had gathered in front of its entrance and anyone that possibly could was standing, sitting, lying or even hanging out of windows and trees, waiting anxiously to see the scene unfold they'd all been anticipating in the past weeks – ever since the Miracle ship Voyager had returned. The release of its Command Team.

The adjoined press was gathered around a large group of people, none of which seemed very happy with the attention and most ignored them as much as possible. Their anticipating gazes were focussed on the front doors of Starfleet HQ. Questions and shouts flew through the air, but no answers came. Suddenly, after what was apparently a very rude question, a tall, fair-haired man turned around, his face set in grim lines it normally didn't show. He shouted something back, as the part-Klingon woman next to him growled angrily. The reporter that had asked the pertinent question replied in a shout, which caused the man's face to darken in anger. This time his answer could be heard even in the back of the crowd.

"How dare you! You don't know anything about them!" He took a deep breath and looked about ready to beat the man to a bloody pulp with the force of his words alone, but paused and looked down at something; his anger vanished. The already quieted mass began to move back, opening a wide circle around the group of people in old Starfleet uniforms. Out of the parting crowd appeared a girl, barely aged ten, standing in front of the blonde man and dark woman and thereby subsequently seemed to be backed up by all of the uniformed crowd. Her long red hair was almost too bright to be human and the line of horns down the centre of her forehead told of her mixed heritage. Despite her youth, the girl's eyes showed an ancient knowledge, accented by her expression of pure fury, so much unlike that of a child's. This wasn't the look of a youngster, angry because she hadn't gotten the right gift for her birthday, or because she had to go to bed while she didn't want to – no, her look was so much more intense, but controlled still. Someone, in a whisper, compared her to an angry lioness defending her cups. All eyes were focussed on this girl and the silence was almost deafening. No one made a noise, as a few even seemed afraid to breathe. Then the girl spoke, her voice dripping with anger but carrying a soft undertone that made her words that much more biting. All people within hearing were hanging on her lips.

"Who are you to judge them?" Her glare, directed at the reporter in question, would have done her former captain proud. "What have you that gives you the authority to speak like that?"

The man didn't recognize hers for a rhetorical question and shouted back, his words resounding over the silent square. ,I never put my subordinates in danger by sleeping with a traitor and my second in command!" His words were loud and his voice strong, but he soon shrunk under the girl's steadfast gaze. They stared at each other for long minutes, fighting an important – though silent – battle. Then he lowered his eyes, unable to look her in the eye any longer. Her face never showed her triumphant feeling, nor did her voice loose its conviction.

"Commander Chakotay is not a traitor – he's a freedom fighter and can be trusted with my life; with all our lives." The people in old uniforms behind her cheered and shouts of 'hear, hear' were heard, but they quickly quieted as the girl turned to glare at them. She waited until all was still again before continuing. "And their relationship never endangered us; they would have stopped it immediately if it did, no matter how much that would hurt them. No, it made us all stronger; it united us. We are a family, not just a Starfleet crew – and Starfleet we were. She would never tolerate anything else. She did nothing wrong, and neither did he. They would willingly have sacrificed everything for us! What made the difference is that we didn't want them to. We just wanted them to be happy and that's what they are. They are the best Captain and First Officer we could ever want and they're part of our family. **They** made us a family and **they **got us here – to Earth. Could you have done the same?" She closed her mouth and looked around at all the faces around her. Finally her gaze landed on the reporter whose question had ignited her anger. He looked down again when her eyes met his, his expression somewhere between shame and resentment for being put down by a child.

Still no one spoke and now that the girl had stopped talking, you could hear a pip drop in the silence that had engulfed the square. Clapping, coming from the tall man in the red-shouldered command uniform was what finally penetrated the silence. Soon the rest of the uniformed people joined him, followed by the entire crowd. The girl seemed to come out of her trancelike state at the thunderous applause and turned a red to match her hair.

In their focused andnow enthusiastic state, no one noticed the two people that had come out of Starfleet HQ. At seeing the large mass of people focusing on something or someone they couldn't see, they'd stopped and listened with the rest. The woman's eyes, now filled with tears, hadn't left the small figure once she had emerged from the sea of people. The large man with dark eyes and graceful features who had left the building with her had wrapped an arm around her waist and was holding her tightly. Neither of them was applauding with the rest, as they were too moved by the scene before them to do anything but breathe.

After what seemed like even longer than their weeks in briefings, but in reality must have been no more than a few minutes, the small woman released herself from the man's grasp and made her way to the girl. She too was wearing a uniform, but hers was the grey jacked with red turtleneck that characterized the new ones. The men and women around her fell silent and moved away as she walked through the horde of red, gold- and green-shouldered people to the centre of the crowd. When she reached the girl she stopped, just staring at her as tears flowed freely down her face. Now that her speech was finished and her anger had seeped away, the girl looked much younger, and not entirely sure what to make of the woman's expression. "Naomi." The woman then said, in a voice close to breaking, still looking at the girl. Her soft voice carried far over the once again quieted mass.

That, and the brilliant smile that lit up her face, despite the tears still flowing from her eyes, caused the girl's face to brighten almost immediately. Without more words from either of them, the girl flew into the woman's open arms. Photographers quickly snapped a few shots of the hug between captain and captain's assistant, now just a woman and a girl.

After a few moments, they moved apart and the woman crouched down on her knees before the girl. She whispered something that made them both smile and then got up again. The girl smiled, nodded and walked to the dark man who had followed the woman and was swung on his shoulders with a squeal while the woman stepped forward just an inch so that all eyes focused on her. Within a few seconds her tears stopped and she straightened her shoulders, as what her former crew would call her command mask appeared. The whole crowd unconsciously took a breath as they saw the change, transforming the small and uncanningly real woman into the larger-than-life captain.

"I think most of you know me. For those who don't, I'm Kathryn Janeway, former Captain of Voyager. And as of today wife to Chakotay, former First Officer of Voyager.

You probably heard of all we encountered in the Delta Quadrant from the news vids. We had many trials and adventures and made first contact with numerous species, most of them hostile. I can't discuss all we went through as most of it is classified, but suffice it to say it was a whole adventure. We basically fought an entire quadrant, including the Borg, not to mention several Q, Starfleet brass and even each other, but we never gave up. And today, after six and a half years in the Delta Quadrant and almost three months in debriefings, I'm finally home." The crowd clapped and she smiled slightly at them, before turning around. But instead of walking away, she now faced the group dressed in old uniforms. Her grin widened to a warm smile as she studied each of them. Once the applause had quieted down, she spoke again, keeping her back to the crowd to face her crew.

"Thank you. For being the best crew any captain could hope for, you never gave up and kept believing in me. You did more than I could ever have hoped for and worked so hard to get this ship home. Each of you, thank you. You aren't just my crew, you're my family."

"To the best captain ever!" Tom Paris shouted as he wrapped his arm around his wife. A few watery eyes were visible amidst the applauding and shouting crew, as well as in the rest of the crowd. It took a while, but this time when the crowd settled, she turned to the dark man. He still had the young girl on his shoulders, but put now her down. Her eyes showed all the love she felt for him through the haze of newly arisen tears.

"Chakotay." It was barely more than a whisper and she had to swallow to clear her voice enough to continue. ,You were my rock whenever I needed one, supporting me always, no matter what. You took care of me, making sure I ate something other than coffee and actually got some sleep. You helped me get over my guilt and learn to enjoy life again, even life in the Delta Quadrant. You loved me almost from the beginning and I'm so sorry for all the times I pushed you away. But I did come to my senses and I'm so proud to call myself your wife." By now the tears were flowing down her face once more, but she didn't seem to care. Chakotay rushed to her as soon as the last words were out her mouth and held her to him tightly, tears also staining his cheeks. Unaware of the hundreds of staring eyes, they stood like that for long minutes. Her whispered words were just for him.

"Thank you, my love, for being you."

**_Fine_**


End file.
